A LONG ALOHA FRIDAY

Friday is a long day for me. It starts at 5 a.m. with a little 3,000 yard swim at Masters. Then a little 6 1/2 hour bike ride, about 110 miles depending on the wind. After all of that I get to go to work until 11 p.m. and then finally bed, but just for a few hours. Then I get up around 5 a.m. again and go for a quick 18-mile run. Ah, the joys of training for Ironman. Just a few more weeks then it's taper time and vacation and lots of sleep and rest and hydration. Then the big day! (butterflies are stirring ...)

Oh, you may not believe this, but today (Thursday) on my run a butterfly flew up beside me and joined me for about a quarter mile just floating along beside me. What do you think that means? One escaped from my stomach? Good luck? Bad luck? Float like butterfly, bees like to sting? Who knows? Any how, it was pretty cool having this beautiful butterfly cruising beside me for a bit.

A thought for today:
A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, 'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.'

The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said, 'You have seen Hell.'
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The holy man said, 'I don't understand.'

'It is simple,' said the Lord. 'It requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'

37 days until Ironman and today my stomach is full of butterflies, minus the one that got away. Where's the confidence of yesterday?